Winsted, CT Beardsley Hotel Fire, Nov 1939

Winsted, Con., Nov. 9 (AP).--Two persons were believed to have lost their lives early today in a fire which burned the 100-year-old Beardsley Hotel to the ground.

State Police Lieutenant F. W. Brandt said Mrs. Elizabeth Murphy, 77, a widow, and George Royer, 55, both guests at the hotel, were unaccounted for. One badly burned body was recovered from the smouldering ruins, but it was impossible to determine whose it was.

Four of the 15 guests, and five employes at the Rambling, four-story frame structure were injured. Firemen rescued about 10 persons trapped on a third-story balcony while flames licked about the balustrades.